Blind zones, or blind spots, in a vehicle are a leading cause of accidents between vehicles. A driver checking rear or side view mirrors that are not in correct alignment before changing lanes assumes, often incorrectly, that because there is no vehicle visible in the mirror that a lane change can safely be performed. However, a blind zone due to incorrect alignment of vehicle mirrors may cause nearby vehicles to be out of the field of view of the driver.
Correct alignment of the rear or side view mirrors based on a seating position, height, and distance from the mirrors of the driver could reduce accidents due to blind zones by a significant factor. Nevertheless, studies show that a majority of drivers do not know how to align mirrors correctly. Furthermore, when drivers use vehicles that are not their own, or use a shared vehicle, drivers often find the process of manual mirror adjustment of vehicle mirrors to be too bothersome for a single trip.
Many vehicles are being equipped with in-car camera systems that monitor attentiveness and drowsiness of the driver. Using camera systems to determine blind spots and to adjust vehicle mirrors may significantly increase driver safety.
It would be desirable to implement an automatic mirror adjustment using an in-car camera system.